Page 1 of 7 12345 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 154

Thread: Mando bass

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Fredericksburg, Va
    Posts
    8

    Default Mando bass

    About six months ago I saw a mando bass in a music shop. Never knew such an instrument existed. It was different.

    Does anyone have experience with one? What are the pluses and minuses?

    thanks

    Juan

  2. #2
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    13,103

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Plus: Every mandolin orchestra within a 500-mile radius will beat a path to your door.
    Plus: You can keep your other instruments inside it.
    Plus: It floats.
    Plus: It sounds great if you are sitting about 3 feet directly in front of the soundhole.
    Minus: It can barely be heard anywhere else.
    Minus: No consensus on what the price should be, so people sell them for anything from $4K to $10K.

    If you are not going to get this one from your local music shop, please let me know which shop it is. I have a friend who would like to buy her own mandobass.
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

    Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!

    Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls

  3. #3
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    30,753

    Default Re: Mando bass

    I had one many years ago, but had to sell it because in the dry heat of my New York apartment the huge back would split over and over. It cost me a bunch in repairs. Other than that it makes a good conversation piece.
    Jim

    My Stream on Soundcloud
    Facebook
    19th Century Tunes
    Playing lately:
    1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Fredericksburg, Va
    Posts
    8

    Default Re: Mando bass

    FYI~

    The mando bass is a 1930's Kalamazoo F hole style, selling price is $3,500.

    The shop is a bluegrass music shop called Picker's Supply, located in Frederickburg, Virginia. (Web site: pickerssupply.com; email: pickers@pickerssupply.com)

    Juan

  5. #5
    Destroyer of Mandolins
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    5,017

    Default Re: Mando bass

    The only piece of advice I ever received about them is that the ones with natural tops are more prized. As I understood it, the majority of these were made with opaque finishes to cover the many checks and fills in the wood, as it is hard to get a perfect piece of wood that big. This was supposedly even worse in their heyday which was after WWI when really good wood was at a premium. Of the four I've seen in person, three of them were black. Not that there's anything wrong with solid colors, it's just that natural ones are rarer and get bigger bux. Or so I'm told, so take all that for what it cost you.

    I visited Picker's Supply once several years ago. Nice shop and I'm glad to hear they're still around.
    Last edited by Tim2723; Sep-26-2008 at 7:22pm.
    Dedicated Ovation player
    Avid Bose user

  6. #6
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    13,103

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Ah, I think I've seen that one. That's horribly overpriced. I don't think I'd give more than $800-1,000 for it. The "real Gibson" ones are more desirable. As for dark vs. natural tops, I dunno ... So many of them have had to be patched up over the years. If I had a choice between a clean one with a dark top and a repaired one with a natural top, I'd take ...

    the one with better tone & projection.
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

    Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!

    Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls

  7. #7
    Jason Wicklund DryBones's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Northern Virginia
    Posts
    2,401

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Quote Originally Posted by truckplayer View Post
    FYI~

    The mando bass is a 1930's Kalamazoo F hole style, selling price is $3,500.

    The shop is a bluegrass music shop called Picker's Supply, located in Frederickburg, Virginia. (Web site: pickerssupply.com; email: pickers@pickerssupply.com)

    Juan
    Plus, They keep it in the front display window of the shop. Not too sure how that's going to affect the wood, longterm.
    Jason

    Lefty JBovier F5 Tradition, Lefty Mid-Mo M1

  8. #8
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Outer Spiral Arm, of Galaxy, NW Oregon.
    Posts
    17,103

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Marc Silber put up a list of stuff in the classifieds, included a mando bass, east bay area folks..
    writing about music
    is like dancing,
    about architecture

  9. #9
    mandolin slinger Steve Ostrander's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Capitol of MI
    Posts
    2,795

    Default Re: Mando bass

    I remember seeing one at Elderly a couple of years ago. Pretty sure it was black.
    Living’ in the Mitten

  10. #10
    Registered User man dough nollij's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    The Real World
    Posts
    2,801

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Here's one at Intermountain Guitar and Banjo in SLC, UT:


  11. #11
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Rochester NY 14610
    Posts
    17,378

    Default Re: Mando bass

    I wonder if they think that turning it into a "Tut Taylor road sign" increases or decreases its value?
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  12. #12
    Registered User Gutbucket's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Standing here in my shoes
    Posts
    1,121

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Could be worse. It could say "Eat st Joes".
    A couple of mandolins
    A couple guitars
    An Upright Bass
    Some banjos
    Wax Paper over a comb
    A Loar era Didjeridoo

    "I Never Wanted To Be A Barber. I Always Wanted To Be A Lumberjack !"

  13. #13
    Registered User Mike Herlihy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Basking Ridge, NJ
    Posts
    295

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Or - "Vote for Wendell Wilkie"

  14. #14
    Registered User Gutbucket's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Standing here in my shoes
    Posts
    1,121

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Hey, hey, hey! No politics.
    A couple of mandolins
    A couple guitars
    An Upright Bass
    Some banjos
    Wax Paper over a comb
    A Loar era Didjeridoo

    "I Never Wanted To Be A Barber. I Always Wanted To Be A Lumberjack !"

  15. #15

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Listen, if they put that Tut Taylor mb up for sale at a reasonable price, not ridiculous, I'd buy it--I don't care about it. Yvonne
    "There are two refuges from the miseries of life--music and cats" Albert Schweitzer

  16. #16
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Rochester NY 14610
    Posts
    17,378

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Quote Originally Posted by violmando View Post
    Listen, if they put that Tut Taylor mb up for sale at a reasonable price, not ridiculous, I'd buy it--I don't care about it.
    They want $4,200 for it, which I think may be closer to "ridiculous" than "reasonable."

    Still, supply and demand -- but they've had it for quite a while...
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  17. #17
    Certified! Bernie Daniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
    Posts
    8,347
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default Re: Mando bass

    There is also a mandobass for sale at the Guitar Center in Cincinnati -- its not a Gibson though -- I forget what brand. But I think they are asking around $4K for it. Thanks but no thanks.

    I'd rather have a very nice black-faced 1917 F2 that is hanging on the wall on the other side of the room for the same $$$.

    It's one of the best sounding F2's I've ever played -- very strong and bell like.

    Yes I'm a bit OT here but I did include some MB also.
    Bernie
    ____
    Due to current budgetary restrictions the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off -- sorry about the inconvenience.

  18. #18

    Default Re: Mando bass

    I have a Gibson Mandobass that I play with the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra, am just having fun.

  19. #19
    wannabe mandolin wizzard bluesmandolinman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Berlin, Germany
    Posts
    712

    Default Re: Mando bass

    would love to hear one of these MBs

    I have read many comments here about their volume ( not very loud ) but I don΄t have a clue how they sound. Is any of you MB owners able to post a soundclip ????? Or are there any recordings I could buy that has a MB on it ?
    Carl Martin - Everyday I have the Blues

    My gear : 1927 A0/Ajr , JM-11 , Fender 346 white XH

  20. #20

    Default Re: Mando bass

    I'm going to try to put strings on a billboard and sell it for $10k...

  21. #21

    Default Re: Mando bass

    The Dayton Mandolin Orch is doing an exchange concert with the Kalamazoo Orch. in 3 weeks--wonder if they have one? LOVE to try it out! Yvonne
    "There are two refuges from the miseries of life--music and cats" Albert Schweitzer

  22. #22

    Default Re: Mando bass

    bluesmandolinman, Will work on the soundclip. It might take a few weeks.

  23. #23
    wannabe mandolin wizzard bluesmandolinman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Berlin, Germany
    Posts
    712

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Quote Originally Posted by Burgh View Post
    bluesmandolinman, Will work on the soundclip. It might take a few weeks.
    Cool ! Thanks in advance !
    Carl Martin - Everyday I have the Blues

    My gear : 1927 A0/Ajr , JM-11 , Fender 346 white XH

  24. #24
    Registered User Jon Hall's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Nacogdoches Texas
    Posts
    1,295

    Default Re: Mando bass

    To hear some sound clips with mandobass listen to samples of Steve Hartz's albums: "By the Muddy Angelina" and "Settlers In the Western Woods".

    www.mysteryridge.com

  25. #25
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Philadelphia
    Posts
    489

    Default Re: Mando bass

    Here's a pic of my mandobass. I got it from Bran at Picker's Supply. He was a great guy to deal with and I was tempted to get the Kalamazoo one too. Then I would be "that guy".......the one with two mandobasses in his living room. If you are into early Gibsons like I am, a collection really isn't complete with out one....and a harp guitar...and a style O....and a K-4...and........

    Phil


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •